Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Talent Shortages the Biggest Challenge

Nearly
Half of U.S. Employers Struggling to Fill Mission-Critical Positions

This is the story of the day. Those
who thinks there are no opportunities they have to think twice before saying
this. There are opportunities and more than enough opportunities for RIGHT
KIND OF SKILLS. The right kind of
skills are changing very fast. With changing time and economies one cannot
think of getting good job with 20th century skills and
qualification. These skills and qualifications needs to be upgraded to fulfill
the needs of 21st century economy and needs.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human
Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator.
This concept of talentism as the new capitalism continues to resonate and was
echoed as a core theme of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum
in Davos.

The battle for the right candidate continues to rage as 48%
of Indian employers struggle to find the right candidate for the job. A study
on Talent Shortage by staffing firm Manpower Group shows that although down by
19% from last year, India's hunt for suitable employees is high compared to
global average of 34%.

The profiles on demand have also altered since same period
last year. While it was difficult to hunt for R&D, sales manager and IT
staff last year, this year the positions are for IT staff, marketing/public
relations/communication staff and engineers. Personal assistants, call center
operators, researchers are also hard to find this year

Lack of available candidates, technical competencies amongst
those present, refusals to move to another location, poor image of the
occupation, weak soft skills and demand for a higher salary have been key
reasons in Asia Pacific for the posts to remain vacant. Owing to high growth in the IT sector and
increase in the social media presence of organizations, there has been a surge
in the demand for IT staff and marketing/communications staff. Access to talent is the key competitive
differentiator in the Human Age, and the companies that succeed in this new
ecosystem will be those that employ a comprehensive workforce strategy closely
aligned with business strategy.

The world leader in innovative workforce solutions, warns
employers, who are increasingly at peace with failing to find the right talent
to fight the perception that specialized in-demand talent is out of reach and
develop flexible workforce models comprised of contingent and permanent
workers, in order to meet fluctuating demand for their products and services.

ManpowerGroup's 2012 Talent Shortage Survey, released along
with the accompanying insights paper, "Break the Crisis and Complacency
Cycle, Get Ahead of the Global Talent Shortage," shows the world is for
the seventh year in a row gripped by an acute talent mismatch, as over a third
(34%) of employers globally identify a lack of available skilled talent to
their organizations. Despite this, a substantial proportion of employers
indicate unfilled positions are expected to have little or no impact on key
constituents, such as customers and investors; this proportion has grown from
36% in 2011 to 56% in 2012.

The results of its seventh annual talent shortage survey,
revealing 49 percent of U.S. employers are experiencing difficulty filling
mission-critical positions within their organizations.

In the United States, the top 10 most difficult jobs to fill
are:

Engineers

IT staff

Sales representatives

Accounting and finance staff

Drivers

Mechanics

Nurses

Machinists/machine operators

Teachers

Summary of Global Results ManpowerGroup surveyed nearly
40,000 employers across 41 countries and territories as part of its annual
Talent Shortage Survey. Globally, 34 percent of employers say they are having
difficulty filling positions, the three most challenging of which are Skilled
Trades, Engineers and Sales Representatives. The reasons most often cited are
lack of available applicants and lack of technical skills. Among the 41
countries and territories surveyed, employers are having the most difficulty
finding the right people to fill jobs in Japan (81 percent), Brazil (71 percent)
and Bulgaria (51 percent).